Sunset Boulevard

I watched “Sunset Boulevard” tonight. Familiar with it? William Holden? Gloria Swanson? 1950? Black and white? Yes? No? It was on the Bonnet Channel tonight.

I remember the first time I saw it. I was in New York City staying at my usual hotel at 34th and Lex. I saw it after a long day of meetings and I was enthralled. It was one of those films that I’d heard about from my Mother since childhood – the line “I’m ready for my close-up” was commonly heard around our house. It just took on a whole new significance when I finally saw the film.

Viewing it tonight, it took on a different quality for me. Perhaps that’s the mark of a good movie – it can somehow match its message to your mood, as if it holds some universal hidden code that is only revealed to you piece by piece when you’re ready for it.

Tonight, I was caught up with the madness of the character of Norma Desmond. Her obsession with staying young, with staying the star, with ensuring that her public still noticed her, with her devotion to living in the past and with her frantic desperation of staying in control of William Holden, her insanity around her “love” for him. It was a brilliant portrayal by Gloria Swanson – even if she perhaps did ham it up a bit in spots. I was so entranced by her and the message of madness that I paid very little attention to William Holden’s character, which is surprising as he has become one of my more favorite actors from the ’50s.

If you’ve seen the film, you know how it ends. In fact, if you’ve seen the beginning of the film, you probably know how it ends. But if you haven’t seen it, I won’t spoil it for you – as long as you promise to watch it. (Go. Go on!) It’s a worthwhile way to spend a chilly evening, and as our world spins crazily around these days, it’s a voyeuristic view inside the mind of a madwoman.

And heaven knows there are too many of those roaming loose these days.

9 comments

Great flick! I could spend all night watching those classics. Kind of bums me that I have like 60 Movie Channels on the satellite and there are so darn few old classics on. I’d like to see a HBO CLASSIC channel showing nothing but pre-1960 BW films. I’d be hooked! 🙂

I know!! I rarely watch anything else much to Kelsea’s dismay. I get so irritated with TCM when they pull into films from the 1960s. If I was alive when it was filmed, how could it be considered a classic? I’m mean, it’s not as if I’M a classic, is it?

” . . .it can somehow match its message to your mood, as if it holds some universal hidden code that is only revealed to you piece by piece when you’re ready for it.” That is exactly right on. I’m having great insightful fun rewatching a ton of movies I first saw as a kid or teenager or undergraduate, and this holds true for ever last one of them. And I dig this one, too, the Blanche DuBois-goes-to-Hollywood quality, the Velvet Underground “What Becomes a Legend Most” Twilight Zone “Queen of the Nile” thread. . .

I too watched this movie last night and I couldn’t put my finger on it, but the movie somehow struck a cord with me too. An obsessed madwoman, mad woman, trying to control the men in her life. I’ll have to ponder this a bit to see if I can draw some corollary in my own life somehow. In any event, as a guy, I liked the car.

You and the Bonnet Channel, sage? Amazing. Do contemplate any paralells in your own life, but just make sure you don’t wind up like William Holden’s character. At least the outdoor pools around you are drained by now. And as a girl, I liked the car.